This blog on Texas education contains posts on accountability, testing, college readiness, dropouts, bilingual education, immigration, school finance, race, class, and gender issues with additional focus at the national level.

Here’s What Rick Perry Looked Like While Touring the Border on a ‘Badass’ Boat

Texas Gov. Rick Perry spent
Thursday afternoon with federal law enforcement officials along the Rio
Grande, after President Barack Obama declined to visit the border
during his trip to the state amid the surging immigration crisis.Perry traveled the river by Anzalduas Park, an area known for its high traffic of illegal immigrants coming into the United States, with a five-boat tour, law enforcement officials told TheBlaze.

Texas
Gov. Rick Perry with Texas Department of Public Safety law enforcement
officials on the Rio Grande in Mission, Texas, July 10, 2014. He visited
Anzalduas Park, a 96-acre park known for its high illegal immigration
traffic. (Photo courtesy of Perry’s office)

“The Texas boats looked badass,” one law enforcement officer told TheBlaze.
The boats had mounted machine guns and were accompanied by a helicopter to assist in the border tour, the officer said.Perry on Wednesday described his meeting with Obama as “constructive,”
but said he’s concerned the president will not move forward with
Perry’s suggestions to bring the National Guard to secure the border.
“You know, I was like, Mr. President, you can deal with this. You can
unilaterally direct the Department of Defense to put those troops on
the border,” Perry told Sean Hannity on Fox News. “The president needs
to understand that the single most important thing that he can do is put
the National Guard on the border to coordinate with local law
enforcement, with state law enforcement, with the Border Patrol.”Obama said he would be open to the National Guard suggestion, but that it was only a temporary fix.— Follow Sara A. Carter (@SaraCarterDC) on Twitter